Saturday, 21 June 2014

I spent an enjoyable couple of hours at Oare Marshes this morning in glorious sunshine , it also gave me the chance to practice digi scoping and all of the images on this blog post were digi scoped , There was a good number of Black Tailed Godwitson the East Flood along with a lesser number of Avocets including some chicks , not sure if they were bred here or flew from Sheppy ?

Black Tailed Godwits.

Young Avocet.

All the waders took to the air and the culprit that spooked them was a female Marsh Harrier, it doesn't matter how many times i see this huge number of Godwits in flight as i always enjoy it .

Small section of the Godwit flock.

I walked all the way around the East flood and added Little Egret , Lapwing , Redshank ,Skylarkand Meadow Pipitplus 2 Cuckoo'swere playing chase around the back of the hide.

1 of 2 Cuckoo's.

There were plenty of Shoveler, Tufted Duck , Shelduck, Gadwalland Mallardbut i could not locate the Garganeythat had been seen the last few days .

Grey Heron.

There were quite a few Grey Heronsaround and lots of Cootsand Moorhens, i heard but never saw Med Gull , Bearded Titand Cetti's Warblerand finally i ended up back at my car and had one last scan over the flood and finally located 2 Garganey, male & female , there has been up to 3 birds but i was happy with the 2 i got .

Male Garganey.

On my way out of Oare i noticed a large number of Common Swift'sflying over the fields probably totaling 50+ birds.

Thursday, 12 June 2014

Indeed last weeks Mystery Bird was a Myrtle Warbler which i saw in Durham earlier this year , well done to all the correct answers who are : Ellis L , Mark L , Alex M , Martyn Wilson , ChiddersandMark Lewis

Unlucky to those with the incorrect answer , many thanks to everyone who took part , here is this weeks " Mystery Bird " :

Week 46 " Mystery Bird " ???????

If you fancy ago just leave your answers in the comments or DM on twitter @RobsBirding , i will reveal the correct answer and entries next Sunday , good luck.

Monday, 2 June 2014

News broke on Saturday 31st May of a Short-Toed Eagle in Dorset arrangements were put into place to be on site for first light the following morning in the hope the bird would still be there having been seen roosting in a favoured tree til at least 9.15 pm .

Sunday morning soon came around and after an uneventful journey i arrived at Morden Bog NR at 4am where there were already a large number of cars parked up , looks like we all have the same idea , as soon as i get out of the car i could hear Nightjar" churring " fantastic start and on my walk to the promised land i could hear several more and i saw 2 birds at different points on the walk to the Eagle.

Light was still breaking on my walk and there was quite a mist , i heard info of roughly where the ST Eagle had roosted the previous night now all i needed was the light to fully lift and hope it is still there ,it was a bit concerning at times as the trees begun to appear from the darkness and mist begun to raise and blanket out the view.

Just look at that eye.

Eventually the trees were viewable and it wasn't long before the call went out , and we were all enjoying good scope views and although quite distant the most striking feature were the magnificent large yellow eyes , this stunning bird was causing the local resident birds some disturbance , Greenand 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckersalong with Coal Tit , Blackbirdand Mistle Thrushall at some point came very close to the Eagle and were clearly agitated by its presence , however several Carrion Crows did mob it every so often.

Distant front view of the Short-Toed Eagle.

I watched this bird from the hill for a good 3 hours and other birds of note from here included Hobby , Meadow Pipit , Dartford Warbler and approx 25 Med Gulls . Other birders started to wander off to try and get closer views and i did the same which proved very successful as i bumped into a local birder who showed me a great vantage point which was far enough away as not to disturb the bird but give me some great views .

Short-toed Eagle.

I had some really stunning views of this bird and this was a fantastic bird to add to my British list , i also saw on this part of the reserve displaying Tree Pipit , Stonechatand Nuthatch, a really great birding session and after approx 5 hours i then headed off to have a well earned breakfast and cuppa , i will definitely visit this reserve again in the future.